Simply put, direct navigation is finding the information you're looking for without using a search engine, a directory of sites, or clicking on a link from another site.

Direct Navigation traffic, also called type-in traffic, refers to traffic generated by a person either typing a URL (a web site address) directly in the browser address bar or going to a site directly from a bookmark.

Direct Navigation traffic is a continual stream of highly targeted traffic that does not rely on search engine placement or paid advertising or links from other web sites.
It is the purest and most targeted form of traffic on the web, and considered by many to be the highest octane virtual fuel that drives the Internet.

How to Determine if a Domain has Natural Type-in Traffic

 

The easiest way is to check your statistics or the raw logs on your server. If you have a domain with natural type-in traffic, from the day you activate hosting on a domain, you continually receive visitors with no referrers in your stats and raw logs.

If traffic is from links on other web sites (that your company doesn't control) or from search engines, then what you're getting is temporary traffic. Oh it may be temporary for a few years or longer. But it's still only temporary.

Back in 1999, how many companies were #1 on AltaVista for their industry's top keywords? Are they #1 in the most popular search engines now? Does AltaVista even show up in their referral logs today? How about Excite? Or Lycos?

Don't be fooled into thinking what's working today with search engines is going to work next year or the year after. Certainly not several years dow

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